The views of this letter do not necessarily reflect those of The Daily News or its Unified Media affiliates.
Last Tuesday, McKenzie Clift published an opinion piece in opposition to the comprehensive immigration reform bill passed by the Senate earlier this year. Clift clearly has some misconceptions about the actual provisions of the bill and what its implications are for the country. Her conclusions about what she calls the Democratic “amnesty” bill — in reality a bipartisan compromise crafted and supported by four Republican Senators, including John McCain and Marco Rubio — are largely incorrect.
Clift begins with a false claim that the proposed immigration reform would do significant damage to the US economy. In fact, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office found that implementing the reform would have massive benefits for our economy, reducing our deficit by a trillion dollars over the next two decades.
Tuesday’s piece bases its economic argument on a Heritage Foundation study that has been thoroughly discredited by economists across the political spectrum. Alex Norasteh with the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute dismissed the report, criticizing its use of “a statistical method that no other economist would use to measure things like this […] And they predictably reached terrible results.” The main problem with the Heritage study? It skews costs upward, disregarding future growth and most economic benefits associated with legalized immigrants. Criticism of the study was so severe and universal that the principal author resigned shortly after its publication.
The other major flaw in Clift’s analysis is her portrayal of the path to citizenship as a blanket amnesty for undocumented immigrant populations. This is a dishonest assertion and does not reflect the reality of the legislation. A closer look at the bill would reveal a long and difficult path to citizenship that doesn’t come close to giving a “reward”, as Clift puts it, for people living in the United States without documentation.
Let’s consider this supposedly lenient path to citizenship: the first step of the process requires a thorough background check, back-payment of all unpaid taxes, payment of an application fee, and an additional $1000 penalty for living in the United States without documentation. Even after this lengthy and expensive process, immigrants’ only guarantee is that they will not be deported. They will not be eligible for Medicaid, social security, the Affordable Care Act or similar government programs.
Only after holding this status for a full decade will an immigrant be eligible for a green card. During that decade, the immigrant must demonstrate consistent employment, proficiency in English, and consistent income above the poverty level. Even then, the immigrant will not be a full citizen. Another three year waiting period is imposed before he or she is even eligible to apply. In addition to these hurdles, the bill introduces countless measures, from beefed up border security to an employment e-verify system, to prevent future illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border.
Before we talk about legislation, it’s important that we look inside and find out the facts. The bipartisan Senate immigration reform is not perfect. But it is an important step towards a fairer, more efficient immigration system and a more dynamic US economy.
Matthew J. Smith
Ball State student
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